Germany set for early election

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder plans to seek early elections following his party's devastating loss of a key powerbase in Sunday's local poll.
The Social Democrat Party leader made the proposal as exit polls showed the SPD had been ousted after 39 years in power in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The opposition had focused on the huge unemployment in the state.
And the general election, which may now come this autumn, may turn on the same issue, says the BBC's Ray Furlong.